Page:Armistice Day.djvu/298

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276
ARMISTICE DAY

They battled, they endured, they died
To make a new Apocalypse.
Master and Maker, God of Right,
The soldier dead are at thy gate,
Who kept the spears of honor bright
And freedom's house inviolate.


ADDRESS OF MAJOR GENERAL FOX CONNER

DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, U.S.A.

(Delivered upon the Occasion of the Placing of a Wreath upon the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery, November 13, 1926, by the District of Columbia Council of the Boy Scouts of America.)

Those scouts who have advanced far enough in Latin will remember that it was the poet Horace who said, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"—"To die for one's native land is a sweet and honorable end." That is a sentiment cherished in every country and in all ages.

It was reserved, however, for the four unknown warriors of France, Italy, England and the United States to receive the highest honors ever paid to a private soldier. The idea of selecting the body of an unknown soldier killed in action and burying it with all solemnity and honor